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A little over a year and few months ago we bought back into our "home" northwest market after spending some time in a different state for work. We hadn't planned on moving but we stood to make a sizable profit on the house we owned, so that factored into our decision. When we bought back in, that money went right back into purchasing a home in the same market conditions, but only inflated about 10% at that point.
We generally like our current home and is a place we could stay for a long time. The market has inflated almost another 40%, so staying gives us pause, as well as current market conditions. Realtors we have good connections with agree that if we put our home on the market today, it would be sold in 3 days, we could see up to 40% over asking at current market pricing, close in sub-30 days, no inspection, cash buyer. We stand to walk away with a check for approximately $1.4-$1.7M. Our home comprises a significant percentage of our net worth, as is often seen in HCOL areas. This would be a way to cash out in an advantageous market and put a good chunk of our net worth in our pocket, rather than in our home--until we find a way to solve that problem.
The problem we face is, anywhere locally, we'd be competing in the same overheated, meth-fueled market. We've looked at the inland Northwest, much cheaper, but still wildly inflated. We worry that being so far away from strong urban cores and major employment could be disastrous if the market sees a significant retraction -- which is very possible. Not to mention a retraction in home prices, which could take more than a decade to recover.
Another option we've considered is hitting the road for a year--or two--in an RV--something we have experience with, but not yet full-time. This would cause us to significantly pare back our possessions, which could be good or bad. I really prefer rural settings with land and privacy, but I think I could tolerate a year+ of itinerant living. I just don't know how to solve the problem of eventually settling down again--and would 2 years even present an opportunity to buy back in or find something significantly cheaper? We need to stay on the West Coast. Staying put is very safe. Leaving is very advantageous but may come at the cost of ever having something as nice as we do right now, in an area we want to be. But if we did the calculations, our home sale could accelerate retirement provided we found much cheaper real-estate.
Thoughts?
We generally like our current home and is a place we could stay for a long time. The market has inflated almost another 40%, so staying gives us pause, as well as current market conditions. Realtors we have good connections with agree that if we put our home on the market today, it would be sold in 3 days, we could see up to 40% over asking at current market pricing, close in sub-30 days, no inspection, cash buyer. We stand to walk away with a check for approximately $1.4-$1.7M. Our home comprises a significant percentage of our net worth, as is often seen in HCOL areas. This would be a way to cash out in an advantageous market and put a good chunk of our net worth in our pocket, rather than in our home--until we find a way to solve that problem.
The problem we face is, anywhere locally, we'd be competing in the same overheated, meth-fueled market. We've looked at the inland Northwest, much cheaper, but still wildly inflated. We worry that being so far away from strong urban cores and major employment could be disastrous if the market sees a significant retraction -- which is very possible. Not to mention a retraction in home prices, which could take more than a decade to recover.
Another option we've considered is hitting the road for a year--or two--in an RV--something we have experience with, but not yet full-time. This would cause us to significantly pare back our possessions, which could be good or bad. I really prefer rural settings with land and privacy, but I think I could tolerate a year+ of itinerant living. I just don't know how to solve the problem of eventually settling down again--and would 2 years even present an opportunity to buy back in or find something significantly cheaper? We need to stay on the West Coast. Staying put is very safe. Leaving is very advantageous but may come at the cost of ever having something as nice as we do right now, in an area we want to be. But if we did the calculations, our home sale could accelerate retirement provided we found much cheaper real-estate.
Thoughts?
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